A city-based businessman was conned by a group who created a fake website and lured the public by promising huge monthly rents if they installed cellphone towers on their rooftops.

The businessman deposited over Rs 8 lakh in the bank accounts provided by the scamsters.

The incident occurred at Bholapur in Musheerabad and the victim, Vikas (name changed) approached the Hyderabad cybercrime police requesting justice.

Vikas owns a house in Bholakpur and has open space in his roof measuring about 500 sq yards.

Like other neighbours, he also wanted to install a cellphone tower on the rooftop to earn some money by leasing out the space.

He searched on the Internet and found a website styled www.towersjio.in, where he saw that he could earn Rs 25,000 per month by leasing the open space to cellphone companies.

“The victim filled the form provided in the website and shared the details. A stranger called him asking for a security deposit and details of the space, including the blueprints of the plot,” the investigating officer said.

“Soon, the stranger asked Vikas to deposit money towards TDS, GST, clearance from the government and other taxes, and squeezed over Rs 8 lakh within a span of one month. Vikas realised that he was being cheated when the stranger asked him for more money. He then lodged a complaint,” the officer from the cybercrime wing of Hyderabad city police commissionerate said.

The official said that there are several fake websites that have been created to cheat the public by luring them with huge monthly rents for installing cellphone towers on their premises.

A case has been registered and a probe is on to identify the bank account holders in which the money was money deposited, he said.